As goes California so goes the nation....

Now any rational human looking at this statement but I gotta say I find this article concerning the LA Police Department intriguing.

LAPD Pioneers High-Tech Crime-Fighting ‘War Room’ « CBS Los Angeles



LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The LAPD is fighting crime from a high-tech war room that gives it eyes all over the city. The surveillance hub is now a model for police forces around the world and KCAL9 got an exclusive tour inside from Chief Charlie Beck.

“We are targets on our own soil,” says Beck. “We have to be ready.”

What began as a grass roots idea following the 9/11 terrorist attacks is now a state-of-the-art real-time analysis critical response center. It’s called RACR, and it’s located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

“This is a system that cuts through the red tape, that gets information to the people that need it,” says Chief Beck. He calls it “the brains of the department, twenty-four/seven.”

Police in the activity center monitor live feeds of city and traffic cameras, counter-terrorism information, and real-time crime mapping, with cutting edge software.

“If we didn’t have that we would be operating blind,” says Capt. Sean Malinowski, the Commanding Officer at RACR. “Essentially we’re always activated here.”

RACR is a critical crime-fighting tool at the center of every high profile incident in the City of Los Angeles.

“We have some real-time tools that help us analyze crime as it’s happening,” says Malinowski. “And then we feed that information out to the geographic areas and to patrol divisions.”

RACR is relied upon during events like dignitary visits from the Royals and President Obama, as well as the recent Occupy LA showdown and arrests.

“We had eyes on that, both through video cameras that the city owns, and also through video streams that were provided by the actual Occupy LA protesters,” says Malinowski.

Most recently, RACR was invaluable in putting an end to the Hollywood arsons.

Malinowski says RACR plotted each arson fire incident as it happened, creating a three-square-mile geographic hot spot that resulted in the quick arrest of accused fire starter Harry Burkhart.

“At the time he was taken into custody, this area was flooded with sheriffs and with LAPD officers,” says Malinowski. “Based on the fact that we kind of could see his movements in real time.”

RACR was born in a functioning bomb shelter, four stories below the Los Angeles Civic Center.

LAPD Commander Blake Chow remembers a time when tracking crime at RACR was done by hand. “There was very little technology,” says Chow, and RACR had no budget.

Police operated with dry erase boards, personal computers, and simple monitors.

“When we built RACR, there was no template to look at,” says Chow. “There was no police department we could go look at and ask them, ‘how did you build it?’”

Today LAPD’s RACR is the standard operating model for law enforcement agencies worldwide. It’s used as a guidebook on how to protect communities and fight crime.

I can hear the usual suspects screaming about the right to privacy, etc, but I will point out they are monitoring things on the street. I.E. in public view. If it's visible to John Q Public then you have no now reasonable expectation of privacy so get over it.

Good work LAPD!

The feds do it again

I remember that moron mayor from New York saying the Times Square bomber was"...Home-grown, maybe a mentally deranged person or somebody with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill or something..."

And who can forget how the idiot in charge at DHS said the big threat out there was not Islamic extremists who took down the towers but veterans returning from the war.

Now they come out and tell us who a cop needs to worry about. Gangs from South American. Naa. Islamic extremists? Inner city gangs? Nope. No, sovereign citizens!

FBI warns of threat from anti-government extremists

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Anti-government extremists opposed to taxes and regulations pose a growing threat to local law enforcement officers in the United States, the FBI warned on Monday.

These extremists, sometimes known as "sovereign citizens," believe they can live outside any type of government authority, FBI agents said at a news conference.

The extremists may refuse to pay taxes, defy government environmental regulations and believe the United States went bankrupt by going off the gold standard.

Routine encounters with police can turn violent "at the drop of a hat," said Stuart McArthur, deputy assistant director in the FBI's counterterrorism division.

"We thought it was important to increase the visibility of the threat with state and local law enforcement," he said.

In May 2010, two West Memphis, Arkansas, police officers were shot and killed in an argument that developed after they pulled over a "sovereign citizen" in traffic.

Last year, an extremist in Texas opened fire on a police officer during a traffic stop. The officer was not hit.

Legal convictions of such extremists, mostly for white-collar crimes such as fraud, have increased from 10 in 2009 to 18 each in 2010 and 2011, FBI agents said.

"We are being inundated right now with requests for training from state and local law enforcement on sovereign-related matters," said Casey Carty, an FBI supervisory special agent.

Let me see this. Two officer tragically killed by two morons (who are thankfully no longer with us) and another moron shoots at an officer. We have a serious threat to law enforcement, the people in general, etc. Forgive me if I don't take this as true. Not that I'm saying the authors are lying but they are putting out a BS report.

An old cliche is "routine traffic stop". There is no such thing. You have no idea what you have pulled over. It could be a nice old lady on her way to the library who just accidentally went through the light. Or you could have a wanted felon who's mind was more on getting out of town instead of paying attention to his driving. I've pulled over two men in a car for an expired registration once and the driver was wanted for a third degree felony.

My point. This report and the propaganda being put out by the feds is worthless. If you want a real threat you may want to take a look at illegal immigration. I live in the Houston area and in the last ten years six Houston PD officers have been killed or injured by illegal aliens in the area. Maybe feds if you would do your job (like securing the border, not letting people with no ties to this country out on parole pending trial, deporting illegals, etc) that would help officer safety.

FBI agents said they do not have a tally of people who consider themselves "sovereign citizens."

J.J. MacNab, a former tax and insurance expert who is an analyst covering the sovereign movement, has estimated that it has about 100,000 members.

So we're taking the word of a tax and insurance agent to see how many nuts we have out there. Great. And I'm paying how much of my tax dollars for this crap.

Eric Holder's just-us department is a real work. He let's the Black Panthers walk on a slam dunk case of voter intimidation, he ships guns to Mexican gangs without the knowledge of the Mexican government and he's shacking down legit business left and right for his boss man, B Hussein Obama.

I just pray a future Attorney General purges the Justice Department of his minions. And then we can have professionals run law enforcement in federal law enforcement again.

Security Weekly, Mexico's Presidential Election and the Cartel War, February 9, 2012

By Scott Stewart

Mexico will hold its presidential election July 1 against the backdrop of a protracted war against criminal cartels in the country. Former President Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (PAN) launched that struggle; his successor, Felipe Calderon, also of the PAN, greatly expanded it. While many Mexicans apparently support action against the cartels, the Calderon government has come under much criticism for its pursuit of the cartels, contributing to Calderon's low popularity at the moment. The PAN is widely expected to lose in July to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which controlled the Mexican presidency for most of the 20th century until Fox's victory in 2000. According to polls, the PAN has lost credibility among many Mexican voters, many of whom also once again view the PRI as a viable alternative.

In our effort to track Mexico's criminal cartels and to help our readers understand the dynamics that shape the violence in Mexico, Stratfor talks to a variety of people, including Mexican and U.S. government officials, journalists, business owners, taxi drivers and street vendors. At present, many of these contacts are saying that the Calderon administration could attempt to pull off some sort of last-minute political coup (in U.S. political parlance, an "October surprise") to boost the PAN's popularity so it can retain the presidency.

The potential election ploy most often discussed is the capture of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, who is widely believed to be the richest, most powerful drug trafficker anywhere. The reasoning goes that if the government could catch Guzman, Calderon's (and hence the PAN's) popularity would soar.

Still, very real questions exist about whether such an operation really would give the PAN the boost it needs to retain the presidency, however. North of the border, the re-election of U.S. President Barack Obama has not been guaranteed by the May 2011 death of Osama bin Laden. Political considerations aside, the factors that have helped Guzman avoid capture thus far are the very same factors that inhibit the Mexican government's ability to capture him. While we don't put a lot of stock in these rumors of an election surprise, we do see them as a good reason to examine the factors that have protected Guzman.

Plata o Plomo
As we noted in our annual cartel report, Mexico's cartels have begun to form into two major groupings around the two most powerful cartels, the Sinaloa cartel and Los Zetas. These two cartels approach business quite differently. The common Mexican cartel expression "plata o plomo" (literally translated as "silver or lead," the Spanish phrase signifying that a cartel will force one's cooperation with either a bribe or a bullet) illustrates the different modes of operation of the two hegemonic cartels.

Los Zetas, an organization founded by former Mexican special operations soldiers, tends to apply a military solution to any problem first -- plomo. They certainly bribe people, but one of their core organizational values is that it is cheaper and easier to threaten than to bribe. Rather than retain people on their payroll for years, Los Zetas also tend toward a short time horizon with bribery.

By contrast, people like Guzman and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia, founders of the Sinaloa cartel, have been producing and trafficking narcotics for decades. Guzman and Zambada got their start in the trafficking business working for Miguel "El Padrino" Angel Felix Gallardo, the leader of the powerful Guadalajara cartel in the early 1980s. Because they have been in the illicit logistics business for decades, the Sinaloa leaders are more business-oriented than military-oriented. This means that the Sinaloa cartel tends to employ plata first, preferring to buy off the people required to achieve its objectives. It also frequently provides U.S. and Mexican authorities with intelligence pertaining to its cartel enemies rather than taking direct military action against them, thus using the authorities as a weapon against rival cartels. While Sinaloa does have some powerful enforcement groups, and it certainly can (and does) resort to ruthless violence, violence is merely one of the many tools at its disposal rather than its preferred approach to a given problem.

Thus, Sinaloa and Los Zetas each use the same set of tools, they just tend to use them in a different order.

Guzman's Web
Within his home territory of rural Sinaloa state, Guzman is respected and even revered. An almost-mythical figure, he has used his fortune to buy good will and loyalty in his home turf and elsewhere. In addition to his public largesse, Guzman has bribed people for decades. Unlike Los Zetas, the Sinaloa cartel leadership tends to take a long view on corruption. It will often recruit a low-level official and then continue to pay that person as he rises through the ranks. This long-term approach is not unlike that taken by some of the more patient intelligence services, along the lines of the Soviet recruitment of the "Cambridge Five" while they were still students. Quite simply, Guzman and the Sinaloa cartel have had police and military officers, politicians, journalists and judges on their payroll for years and even decades.

This intelligence agency-like approach has permitted the Sinaloa leadership to construct a wide web of assets with which to gather intelligence and serve as its agents of influence. At the street level, all Mexican cartels employ lookouts called "halcones," Spanish for "falcons," who provide their cartel masters with early warning of law enforcement or rival cartel activity in the halcones' area of responsibility. Higher-ranking officials on a cartel's payroll essentially serve as high-level halcones who provide early warnings when government operations against the cartel are being planned. Such advanced warning allows the cartels to protect their shipments and leadership.

Once an official or politician is on a cartel payroll (a situation similar to a network of sources run by an intelligence agency), he is subject to blackmail should he stop cooperating. And the relationship between a politician and the cartels can go beyond just cash. It can also involve the murder of a rival or provide other forms of non-cash assistance in the attainment of political power.

Whatever the relationship entails, once a cartel gets its hooks into a person, it tends not to let go -- and the person thus entangled has little choice but to continue cooperating, since he can be subject to arrest and political or financial ruin if he is caught. He also can be assassinated should he decide to quit cooperating. No Mexican politician wants to become the next Raul Salinas de Gortari, the brother of former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who the U.S. government alleges made hundreds of millions of dollars in dirty money, much of it from cartel figures. Raul Salinas' arrest in 1995 for murder, the subsequent money laundering charges brought against him, and questions about what his brother Carlos knew about his activities were important factors in the 2000 presidential election in which the PRI lost.

This fear of being linked to a figure like Guzman serves as a strong deterrent to his arrest. Guzman has been operating as a high-level narcotics trafficker in Mexico for decades now, and a big part of his operations has involved bribery. For example, in November 2008, Mexico's drug czar, Noe Ramirez Mandujano, was arrested and charged with accepting $450,000 a month from Zambada and the Beltran Leyva brothers, who were aligned with Sinaloa at the time.

If Guzman were to talk to authorities after his arrest, he could implicate a number of very powerful political and business figures. Indeed, it is likely this fear led to the delicate treatment he received after his 1993 arrest in Guatemala and his subsequent conviction in Mexico for narcotics trafficking and bribery. Guzman was able to continue to run his criminal empire from behind bars, and it was only when it appeared that Guzman might face extradition to the United States that he chose to escape from his comfortable prison cell in January 2001. Since his escape, he undoubtedly has continued to add strands to the web of protection surrounding him.

We must also note that without Guzman, the dynamics that drive the Mexican cartels would continue, and other leaders or even organizations would rise to take his place. Killing or arresting an individual will not be the end of Mexico's criminal cartels.

If Guzman is concerned that he could be killed rather than captured, like his former associate Arturo Beltran Leyva, it is possible that he could have prepared some type of insurance document incriminating powerful people on Sinaloa's payroll. As a deterrent to Guzman's killing, Sinaloa could threaten to release such a document should Guzman be killed.

That said, a long line of powerful Mexican cartel leaders have been arrested. Guzman's mentor, Felix Gallardo, was arrested in 1989 in large part due to U.S. pressure on the Mexican government in the wake of the torture and murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Enrique Camarena. Gulf cartel founder Juan Garcia Abrego, also a protege of Felix Gallardo, was arrested in 1996. Garcia Abrego allegedly was linked to Raul Salinas and other high-ranking officials in the government of then-President Ernesto Zedillo. Garcia Abrego's successor as leader of the Gulf cartel, Osiel Cardenas Guillen, was arrested in 2003 and, like Garcia Abrego, was deported to the United States and convicted in a U.S. court; he is currently incarcerated in the "Supermax" penitentiary in Florence, Colo. Indeed, Guzman and Zambada are the last of Felix Gallardo's proteges still at large.

Along with Zambada, Guzman has been a high-profile fugitive for three decades now. He has not survived that long by being careless or stupid. It would be very difficult to track down such an individual in a short window of time established by political calculations unless those responsible already know his exact location and have chosen not to arrest him thus far. The Calderon administration and the PAN have struggled with public perceptions for some time now, making it likely that if high-level PAN officials knew where Guzman was and wanted to arrest him for the public relations bump such an operation could provide, they already would have done so.

Still, Guzman is one of the most wanted individuals in the world, and large teams of Mexican and U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agents are trying to locate him. Therefore, it is possible that Guzman could be arrested before the election in July. Any operation to capture him would be tightly compartmentalized for fear it could leak out to high-ranking halcones in the Mexican (or U.S.) government. Indeed, special Mexican units working closely with U.S. counterparts and segregated from any outside contact so that they cannot betray their mission -- or the intelligence that led to it -- normally carry out such sensitive operations. This means such an operation would likely be beyond the control of Mexican politicians to mandate, although they could conceivably provide actionable intelligence to the forces involved in such an operation.

Interestingly, with all the chatter of an election surprise floating around Mexico, any arrest at this point would be met with a great deal of skepticism. The arrest of such a powerful figure would almost certainly become very politicized with all parties attempting to use it to their advantage -- and dodge any connections they might have to Sinaloa. Such an environment would serve to bring more attention to the issue of corruption and collusion between the cartels and the government. And that could end up hurting rather than benefiting the PAN in the upcoming presidential election.

Mexico's Presidential Election and the Cartel War COPYRIGHT STRATFOR.COM

Now this is a stud!

You gotta love it when a man doesn't let a literal bad break stop him from going after what he wants.

As a former Marine, Spartanburg (S.C.) Police Officer Keith Soules is bringing his never-say-die approach to accomplishing his dream of joining the agency's tactical team.

Officer Soules lost part of his leg in a motorcycle accident about a year ago, but his disability hasn't kept him from trying out for the Spartanburg PD's tactical team. Officer Soules tells WJBF that a role on the team would bring "the gratification of taking someone who's wanted for a violent felony and bringing them to justice ... that's real rewarding."

Don't need to add anything more. Good luck Officer Soules.

The Very Last World War I Veteran Has Died

History marches on..

The Very Last World War I Veteran Has Died - Global - The Atlantic Wire

A British woman who served with the Royal Air Force for the last two months of World War I was the last known veteran of the war when she died in her sleep Saturday night. Florence Green joined the RAF at the age of 17 and died just before her 111th birthday, which would have been Feb. 19. She had been a mess steward with the air force, the BBC reported, serving in two U.K. air bases after she joined up on Sept. 13 1918. The Allies signed the armistice with Germany on Nov. 11, 1918. Green follows Claude Choules, a Royal Navy sailor who was the last WWI combatant before he died in May 2011, and Frank Buckles, the last American veteran of the war, who died in February 2011. All were 110 years old.

I recall the words of General Patton in the last year of his life

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

Speech at the Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston Massachusetts, 7 June 1945

Let us thank God women like Miss Green lived. RIP

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

Wooo....everything is so green!

Brings a new meaning to The Big Apple!

Nearly 800 Pot Plants Found In NYPD Raid Of Bronx Building In The Morris Park Section « CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — You might call it a marijuana mega mansion.


Police raided a five-floor commercial building in the Bronx Tuesday afternoon that was filled with marijuana plants from wall to wall.


The building, located on Morris Park Avenue, had nearly 600 plants, some measuring 7 feet.


Police called the operation a sophisticated pot factory that was cranking out millions of dollars worth of weed


“It’s sad. I mean why didn’t the cops pick up on this before?” a neighbor asked.


Police told CBS 2’s Derricke Dennis they just got the tip late last year from a neighbor. They said they checked the building’s electric bill and found it to be sky high. So after weeks of surveillance, officers moved in with a search warrant, arresting three adult males and shutting down a 50-pound a month operation that netted $250,000 every 30 days...


...CBS 2′s John Slattery said there were no sleeping quarters inside, but the building fostered the perfect environment for growing the plants. There was an elaborate set-up of water and air filtration systems, plus heat lamps. Slattery reports that the drugs were allegedly packaged on the top floor.


Neighbors in the area said they were surprised and never suspected anything...

Right. Here is the article with some more pictures. Man someone was making some cash off this.

I need air!

A good friend of mine used that as he finally drank a bit much and had to throw up on the side of the road after a night out. That was a historical occasion. He has drunk many a good man under the table.

The thing that killed him off? Jameson's Irish Whiskey. Since then every one of his friends had made sure we have a bottle at the ready, "Mike, want some Jameson's?" (And no, it was not me....another Mike).

I'm a long time Scotch lover but I gotta say Irish Whiskey is always welcome. Along with Jameson's I keep a bottle of Redbreast Irish Whisky which is smooth as a baby's bottom. I kinda recall killing off a bottle of that at a friend's wedding in Denver....kinda...the memory of the night is kinda weak!

Interesting article on Irish Whiskey from this weekend.

Irish whiskey now outsells Scotch single malt in the United States | Irish News | IrishCentral

The US Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS) recently released their reports on sales for spirits in 2011. The findings show that Irish whiskey has outsold single malt Scotch in the US.

Just-Drinks reports that with the new sales figures , the United States has now become a key battle ground where Irish whiskey outsells single malt Scotch.

During the calendar year of 2011, Irish whiskey sales rose by 24% to 1.7m nine-litre cases, while Scotch single malt whisky sales increased by only 9.5% to 1.4m cases.

According to Just-Drinks, Ireland’s beloved Jameson's brand whiskey is helping to bolster the upward growth of sales.

What’s driving the growth of Irish whiskey sales? “Irish whiskey is enjoying a renaissance at the moment. The bigger companies have come in with enough commercial muscle to expand production, sales and grow the brands,” said Kieran Tobin, chairman of the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland.

Similarly, younger American generations seem to be discovering and enjoying Irish whiskey’s “smooth and sweet texture.”

“On the other hand, let's not get carried away,” writes Chris Mercer for Just-Drink. “If blended Scotch is included in the Scotch figures then one can add a further 6m cases to Scotch sales. Include bulk, bottled malt and grain Scotch, too, and the total Scotch figure is 9m cases.”...

And I mostly drink single malt scotch myself. But many a night I've spent on the porch with a good cigar, good book and Redbreast in the glass. Life is good!

Geopolitical Weekly: Afghanistan: Moving Toward a Distant Endgame, February 7, 2012

By George Friedman

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta suggested last week that the United States could wrap up combat operations in Afghanistan by the end of 2013, well before the longstanding 2014 deadline when full control is to be ceded to Kabul. Troops would remain in Afghanistan until 2014, as agreed upon at the 2010 Lisbon Summit, and would be engaged in two roles until at least 2014 and perhaps even later. One role would be continuing the training of Afghan security forces. The other would involve special operations troops carrying out capture or kill operations against high-value targets.

Along with this announcement, the White House gave The New York Times some details on negotiations that have been under way with the Taliban. According to the Times, Mullah Mohammad Omar, the senior-most leader of the Afghan Taliban, last summer made overtures to the White House offering negotiations. An intermediary claiming to speak for Mullah Omar delivered the proposal, an unsigned document purportedly from Mullah Omar that could not be established as authentic. The letter demanded the release of some Taliban prisoners before any talks. In spite of the ambiguities, which included a recent public denial by the Taliban that the offer came from Mullah Omar, U.S. officials, obviously acting on other intelligence, regarded the proposal as both authentic and representative of the views of the Taliban leadership and, in all likelihood, those of Mullah Omar, too.

The idea of negotiating with the Taliban is not new. Talks, as distinct from negotiations, in which specific terms are hammered out, have gone on for some time now. Several previous attempts have ended in failure, including one instance when the supposed representative proved to be a fraud. However, according to the Times report, the negotiations took on a degree of specificity last summer. They began in November 2010, initiated by a man named Tayyab Agha, who claimed to speak for Mullah Omar. The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama regards authenticating the present offer as unimportant and the intermediary as having authority; the question on the table is the release of Taliban captives as a token of American seriousness.

The Taliban see themselves as already having made a major concession. Their original demand was the complete withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan as a precondition for negotiations. The talks have continued in spite of the U.S. refusal to comply. The Taliban shifted their position to a very specific timetable for withdrawal, something Panetta may have been hinting at last week, though not on a timetable to the Taliban's liking. Two more years of combat operations -- not to mention an unspecified time in which U.S. special operations forces will continue working in Afghanistan -- is a long time. In addition, the United States has not delivered on the release of the Taliban, an issue that has not emerged as a campaign issue in the U.S. presidential election.

Still, U.S. operations have become less aggressive. This is in part due to the season: It is winter in Afghanistan, a time of year when large-scale operations are not practical in many areas. At the same time, we are not seeing the level of operations we have seen in previous winters after Obama increased the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. This in part reflects a realization of the limits of U.S. military power in Afghanistan. Regardless of the motive, the Taliban interpret it as a signal -- and it is understood in Washington as a signal, too.

The Pakistani-Taliban Channel

To get negotiations going, the United States had to reach two conclusions. The first was that negotiations could not happen without Pakistani involvement. U.S. accusations that current and former military figures in Pakistan maintained close ties with the Taliban undoubtedly were true. Conversely, this meant Pakistan represented a clear channel the United States could use to reach the Taliban. That channel permitted the Obama administration to conclude that it had no hope of meaningfully dividing the Taliban.

Certainly, the Taliban are an operationally diffuse group. Even so, Mullah Omar is at their center, with the political operatives surrounding him representing the political office of the Taliban. The line of communications with the Taliban runs through Pakistan and terminates with Mullah Omar. This means that U.S. hopes of splitting the Taliban politically and conducting factional negotiations are not realistic. Particularly after a series of attacks and suicide bombings in Kabul last fall, it also became apparent that the United States would not be able to manage negotiations at arm's length using Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his advisers as the primary channel.

The Pakistanis and the Taliban also had to face certain realities. The Taliban had claimed that the United States and its allies in Afghanistan had lost. This underpinned their demand for an immediate U.S. withdrawal; their offer to permit this without harassment was made under the assumption that the United States had a defeated military force at risk.

The reality was that, while the United States had not won the war in Afghanistan and in all likelihood could not defeat the Taliban militarily, it was far from defeated. The United States remained, and remains, able to conduct operations in Afghanistan as and where it wishes. The Taliban have not reached the point where they can operationally defeat the forces arrayed against them. Where large Western forces exist, the Taliban must decline combat and disengage or be annihilated. As important, there is no overwhelming pressure from the American public to withdraw -- something not true of some U.S. allies. However, in this election, Obama is likely to be challenged by candidates supporting his position in Afghanistan or wanting a more aggressive stance. Mitt Romney, for example, not only rejected the idea of releasing Taliban fighters, but also said in response to a question that his strategy in Afghanistan was to "beat them." 

The United States could hypothetically remain in Afghanistan indefinitely given the current cost and force structure. But we would argue that defeating a guerrilla force with sanctuary and support across the border in Pakistan, an excellent intelligence capability and units able to operate independently is unlikely. But neither, for that matter, can the Taliban defeat the coalition forces.

Stalemate in Afghanistan

This makes for a stalemate, one the Americans hope to solve by creating an Afghan state under Karzai and a security and military force able and willing to engage the Taliban. As I have argued in the past, the core problem with this plan is the same problem that existed during the Vietnamization phase of the Vietnam War. The Afghan military must recruit troops, and some of the most eager volunteers will be Taliban operatives. These operatives will be indistinguishable from anti-Taliban soldiers, and their presence will have two consequences. First, the intelligence they will provide the Taliban will cause the Afghan army offensive to fail. Second, shrewd use of these operatives will undermine the cohesion and morale of the Afghan forces. Surprise is crucial in locating, engaging and destroying a guerrilla force. Afghan security forces will face the same problem the South Vietnamese army did; namely, they will lack the element of surprise and at least some of their units will be unreliable.

Accordingly, the U.S. strategy of using the stalemate to construct a capable military force accordingly looks unlikely to succeed even leaving aside the issue of the fragmentation of the Afghan nation and the Karzai government's internal problems. The Taliban are intimately familiar with the U.S. dilemma and are positioned to choose from two strategies. One is to increase their tempo of operations and so increase American casualties prior to the November elections. But this strategy would see Taliban casualties increase even more dramatically, and its impact on the elections would be unclear to say the least. The Taliban are more likely to pursue the second strategy, which involves accepting the stalemate and permitting the United States to try to build an Afghan military.

Like the Taliban, the United States is aware of the difficulty of building an Afghan army. It also understands that deploying troops in Afghanistan is unlikely to lead anywhere. It does not have to flee defeat in Afghanistan, but there are strategic reasons for leaving, beginning with the fact that the military situation is about as satisfactory as it likely ever will be. Improving the situation would incur costs without yielding anything like victory. With the United States reducing its military budget, serious issues emerging in Iran and throughout the Arab World, and a new emphasis by the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force on the Pacific, the world is moving on. A violent yet frozen conflict in Afghanistan simply does not benefit the United States.

This, of course, leaves a crucial question: Will Afghanistan become a base for al Qaeda or follow-on transnational jihadist groups in the event of a U.S. withdrawal? It is true that these groups can form anywhere, but the fact is that they did form in Afghanistan while Mullah Omar was in charge. The negotiators undoubtedly have promised that, in exchange for withdrawal, they will take responsibility for suppressing jihadist elements. But trusting the Taliban, or trusting those in Pakistan who took violent offense at the killing of Osama bin Laden, poses obvious risks for the United States. In truth, it does not increase the risk much: Afghanistan is not necessary for the jihadists, but it is naturally fragmented and the threat of its re-emergence as a sanctuary is always there. Even so, the issue will remain a sticking point in the negotiations. The United States will want a residual force to deal with the jihadist threat, something the Taliban and Pakistan will oppose.

The Pakistani Role

In this sense, the negotiations really come down to Pakistan and the burden it is willing to undertake in the event of a U.S. withdrawal.

The United States does not trust the Taliban or many of those Pakistani officials speaking to and for the Taliban. But the United States also knows two things. First, that the future of Afghanistan is of fundamental interest to Pakistan. Instability or Indian or Iranian influence in Pakistan is not in Pakistan's interest. Therefore, the Pakistanis will play a leading role in Afghanistan as they did after the end of the Soviet occupation. Second, the United States knows that India remains Pakistan's major adversary. The Pakistanis have tried to play the China card to make the United States nervous about Pakistan. But the fact is that the Chinese People's Liberation Army does not have the training and logistics to support Pakistan against India, and the last thing Pakistan wants is a large Chinese military deployment in Pakistan. Indeed, that is the last thing China wants.

The issue over time will boil down to this: The United States will want a coalition government in which Taliban elements take Cabinet positions in the current structure of the Karzai regime. The Taliban will want an entirely new government in which elements of the existing power structure (Karzai has promised not to seek a third term when his current one ends in 2014) might have a position but that would be an altogether new regime. In either case, the Taliban assume, as the North Vietnamese assumed a generation ago, that a political settlement followed by a U.S. withdrawal would, after a "decent interval," result in a Taliban-dominated regime.

Ultimately, the United States could remain in Afghanistan indefinitely and there is nothing the Taliban could do about it. But the United States cannot defeat the Taliban. The Taliban have nowhere to go and no desire to leave. The United States has other issues to attend to and no overriding strategic interest in Afghanistan. From the American point of view, its presence in Afghanistan does not reduce Islamist threats to the homeland but it does absorb military resources.

What the United States is engaged in now, as it was in 1971, is the complex process of crafting a political path from the current situation to the inevitable end. This isn't easy, since the manner in which the United States withdraws will influence its position in the region as much as its indefinite presence would. This is why the administration is so eager to pursue the current initiative and prepared to release prisoners as a gesture. It is also why the Taliban will accept a coalition government for a while, and why Pakistan will make and likely honor guarantees.

However this war is brought to an end will be a complex and time-consuming process, during which the fighting will continue. But then the how is never trivial in ending a war.

Afghanistan: Moving Toward a Distant Endgame COPYRIGHT: STRATFOR.COM

For those of you who think we don't have enough government....

I've often said any bureaucracy has only one reason to exists and that is, to exist. If it doesn't the people who man it must actually get jobs and that may screw up their life plans.

I've had arguments with people in the past who actually think the economy is under regulated. Here is a greater example of a government agency run a mock.

For Now, Government Still Lets You Pick Your Own Roommate

The people of the United States ordained a Constitution of limited government.  As time passes, the people have more of the “government” and less of the “limited.”  Americans must work at maintaining their freedoms.  Defense of the constitutional freedom of association involved in choosing roommates to share housing illustrates the effort required.  Government has attempted to regulate our ability to choose a roommate, but efforts to resist that intrusion pay off in preserved liberty.

Tricia Rowe, a 31-year-old single woman who owned a three bedroom, single-family house, wanted a roommate.  She posted on a church bulletin board a notice that said, “I am looking for a female Christian roommate.  Rent is $375/mo, which includes utilities.”

On Thursday, July 15, 2010, an overcast day in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Elizabeth Vezino of an organization calling itself the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan filed a complaint stating under oath that she believed that Ms. Rowe’s roommate-wanted notice expressed “an illegal preference for a Christian roommate, thus excluding people of other faiths.”  The Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) went into high gear.

Luckily for Ms. Rowe, the Alliance Defense Fund took up her cause and provided legal representation.  Ms. Rowe invoked her freedom of association under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as a defense against the claim that her statement preferring “a female Christian roommate” illegally discriminated.  Ultimately, HUD ruled sensibly that “in light of the facts provided and after assessing the unique context of the advertisement and the roommate relationship involved in this particular situation potentially involving the sharing of personal religious beliefs, the Department defers to Constitutional considerations in reaching its conclusion” that “there is No Reasonable Cause to believe that the Act was violated in this matter.”

In a separate case, Roommates.com provided a well-known roommate locator service over the Internet.  The service asked customers to create a profile identifying among other things their gender, sexual orientation, and whether children would live with them, and provided a space for “Additional Comments.”  Individuals could search the Roommates.com database for potentially compatible roommates.

In California, organizations called the Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley and the Fair Housing Council of San Diego filed lawsuits against Roommates.com, alleging that questions seeking disclosure of gender, sexual orientation and familial status discriminate in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act.

Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the Housing Council claims that Roommates.com had discriminated in violation of the Act in helping people find roommates to share housing.  The Court characterized the issue as follows:

There’s no place like home.  In the privacy of your own home, you can take off your coat, kick off your shoes, let your guard down and be completely yourself.  While we usually share our homes only with friends and family, sometimes we need to take in a stranger to help pay the rent.  When that happens, can the government limit whom we choose?  Specifically, do the anti-discrimination provisions of the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) extend to the selection of roommates?

The Court indicated that a roommate’s unfettered access to one’s home implicated considerations of safety, privacy, property protection, and the constitutional freedom of association.  Noting that it sought to avoid constitutional difficulties that would arise from government regulation of roommate selection, the Court construed the key term “dwelling” in the FHA to mean an independent housing unit and a not shared living unit.
The Court held that “[b]ecause we find that the FHA doesn’t apply to the sharing of living units, it follows that it’s not unlawful to discriminate in selecting a roommate” and therefore “Roommate’s facilitation of discriminatory roommate searches does not violate the FHA.”...

How many man-hours, how much money, etc was wasted on this. A great reform would be loser pays in civil actions. And until we get common sense corrections abuses like this will continue. Thank God this Miss Rowe had a friend in her corner.

Makes you wonder if we need a cabinet level Department of Housing and Urban Development. Oh did I say that?

Guns and morons...like HIZONORDAMAER

I have nothing by contempt for the moron who currently occupies Gracie Manor. When a criminal tried to blow up Time Square his first comment was how this was someone who was upset with Obamacare passing. People are leaving the city to escape the high taxes which leads to declining revenue so what does he do..increase the rates even more. And when the police department is short of officers he can't help but damned he can hire more meter maids.

Now his idiot is going to put his ugly face on TV during the most watched event in the year. Thankfully I didn't see it but his stupidity comes through on this report.

Special Report: Bloomberg reloads in push for gun control

(Reuters) - Among the slick, million-dollar ads for the likes of Pepsi and Honda during the Super Bowl this Sunday, viewers in Washington will see a far more modest spot. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino will be sitting on a couch touting an issue most politicians avoid like the plague: gun control.

The two mayors, whose local teams face off in the big game, are making the pitch for Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), the organization they co-founded in 2006.

Murder has been on the decline in New York and other major American cities for years, but the mayors say they still see too many dead cops and teens. On Tuesday night, Bloomberg was at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan visiting a New York police officer who had just been shot in the face in Brooklyn.

"We have someone who's dedicated his life to protecting all of us, who has had a much too close brush with death tonight because of what appears to be an illegal gun," Bloomberg told a news conference. He added that more Americans have been killed by illegal guns since 1968 than were killed in World War II.

Of course he uses a cop's almost death at the hands of a criminal to push his agenda. But I did some checking on his stats and they don't really match up. In WWII the US lost approximatley 418 thousand men and women in combat. According to the US Department of Justice's states in the US there are been from 1976-2006 around 350 thousand murders with firearms. Granted this doesn't cover 68-75 or 07 to now so one has to wonder where he gets these states. But notice he says these were done with Illegal weapons. What is an illegal weapon in your mindset Mr Bloomberg. I know the ones shipped to Mexico in Fast and Furious were illegal but again what is your definition. He probably means any firearm because in his mind all weapons not owned by the state or limited people (like his bodyguards) are illegal.

Now this in funny.

"We have to face the fact that both Democrats and Republicans have for a while viewed this as the third rail of American politics," said John Feinblatt, who helps run MAIG as Bloomberg's chief advisor for policy and strategic planning. (Bloomberg is an independent; Menino is a Democrat.)

Democrats, who are more likely than Republicans to favor some restrictions on gun ownership, made a conscious decision to stay away from the gun issue in the 2010 midterm congressional elections. The aim: protect the so-called Blue Dog conservative Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, who didn't toe the party line on gun control. Most were defeated anyway.

Bloomberg is a leftist democrat in all but name. He changed his affiliation to succeed Giuliani and changed it to independent later on. He also got the city council to let him run for a third term. Gee worked out well for them.

Also those Blue Dog Democrats were liberal in everything but name for the most part. They may have voted against gun right but they were good little boys and girls on Obamacare, speeding, Dodd-Frank, etc.

...New York's activist mayor cannot simply restrict handguns in his city - as he has done with smoking and transfats. Two Supreme Court decisions - District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago - have declared such local initiatives unconstitutional. Instead, Bloomberg launched MAIG, which now has 600 members nationwide. Although it has a handful of private donors, the bulk of MAIG's $4 million budget comes out of the mayor's own pocket.

"He's putting his money where his mouth is," said Carolyn McCarthy, a Democratic congresswoman from Long Island. She entered politics after a 1993 shooting spree on the Long Island Rail Road left her husband dead and her son severely injured.

...In the past, advocates for stricter gun controls held marches, rallies and candlelight vigils. MAIG has taken a far more activist approach, conducting undercover investigations and sting operations that are then dramatically revealed to the press.

In 2009, New York City contracted the security firm Kroll Inc. to send undercover agents to gun shows in Ohio, Tennessee and Nevada to show how people who could not pass a background check easily bought guns.

MAIG also used undercover investigators to expose gun dealers who sold to "straw purchasers," buyers intending to quickly resell the guns on the black market. Another investigation identified online gun sellers who did not require background checks.

Bloomberg launched another probe after the January 2011 shooting in Arizona that killed six people and wounded 13, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Using city money, he sent undercover investigators to Arizona to repeat the gun show sting and prove how easy it was for someone like Jared Lee Loughner, the shooter, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, to get a gun.

Gee, nice of him to check up on crime in other states. Hey Mr Mayor, maybe if you had such concern about crime in the city you're mayor of there would not be such a problem with it.

...REAL CHANGE

Members of the MAIG say they are not trying to take guns away from their legal owners, just to close loopholes that allow criminals to get guns and move them around undetected.

"It's a serious safety issue," said Margaret Stock, the Democratic mayor of Butler, Pennsylvania, the town of 13,000 where Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum spent part of his childhood. "If an officer gets shot with an illegal gun I'm responsible."

There is the problem. No Miss Stock, you are not responsible for a cop getting shot with a firearm. Nor is the manufacturer of the gun or the ammunition or the retail seller of the gun. The person reasonable if the piece of s#$% who shot the cop. A simple fact you leftist can't comprehend or don't want to acknowledge because it pushes against your agenda. And we know what it is, the effective removal of the 2nd Amendment via legislation or judicial activism

..."We're a big hunting community, but this is illegal handguns, it's a totally different issue," Stock said. "I had a little bit of backlash from local members of the NRA that I was somehow anti-gun. That was not the intent of the coalition."...

See how every gun used to commit a crime is an illegal gun. Just what makes it illegal? If it was manufactured outside the US and shipped in under the radar and used in the commission of a crime I don't question it's illegal. However if someone breaks into my house and steals my pistol then uses it in a robbery the gun is not illegal. The acts of breaking into my house, stealing the gun and using it in the robbery are the unlawful acts of a criminal. If we follow these people's logic I should be held accountable for the robbery because my gun was used, even though it was stolen. The criminal is where law enforcement should concentrate his efforts. But that won't happen under a liberal's direction.

UPDATE: Who says Da Mayor doesn't know his job:

From Buzzfeed.com

...The Mormon Church owns one of the most active and unregulated gun sale portals on the web, according to a national investigation released by the New York City Mayor's office...

Cool. Transfat, salt, smoking and guns on the other side of the country cool are critical issues for this man. Budget deficits, people running from the city, lack of firemen and cops are things he doesn't need to be concerned with. But he wants to see how the Mormons in Utah are doing with guns.

Who voted for this moron?

Dealilng with a boy with Autism

A scary sight of a kid with a knife coming at an officer. The officer's (the led two in this case) fire in self defense and the boy is tragically dead at the scene.

Now if anyone thinks someone with a knife is no threat to someone with a gun should take a look at this post. I would say the officer suffered serious bodily injury from the suspect in this case. A rule we are taught in the academy is a safe distance is 21 feet for someone with a knife.

Could they have done things differently? Look at the report (Bill Kurtis doing local TV news...didn't know he was this hard up for work).

Family Furious After Calumet City Police Shoot, Kill Boy With Autism « CBS Chicago


CALUMET CITY, Ill. (CBS) — Police in Calumet City were defending their actions Wednesday after officers shot and killed a 15-year-old boy, who has a form of autism, after he threatened them with a knife.

Stephon Watts’ family said he suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome — a high-functioning form of autism — and attention deficit disorder.

As CBS 2′s Susanna Song and WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller report, they claimed the boy was only holding a butter knife. Police would only describe it as a “kitchen knife.”

Question. If I stick that knife in your face, won't it cause injury? It get's you in the eye will it cause very serious injury.

Calumet City Police Chief Edward Gilmore said the boy cut a police officer through his shirt sleeve with a “kitchen knife.”

“I think they did everything they possibly could to avoid this,” Gilmore said. “It’s unfortunate that we had to get to this situation.”

As CBS 2’s Suzanne Le Mignot reports, Stephon’s mother, Danelene Powell-Watts, arrived at the police station in Calumet City on Wednesday shortly before police held a news conference to discuss the shooting.

Powell-Watts was screaming, livid, and inconsolable after her son was killed. She was furious that officers used deadly force against her son this time, rather than subduing him with a stun gun.

“They shot my son,” she yelled as officers as she was blocked from entering the Calumet City police station. “Every last one of you know my son has autism.”...

OK Channel 2, simple question. Why do you want to interview a woman who will be very distract over the loss of her son at the same location the Chief is giving a press conference on that subject? You obviously wanted to cause a scene and you succeeded. I guess you should be proud of yourselves. You used a mother's grief for a scene on your report.

...The chief said police were called to the home to get Stephon under control, as they had been before. But that didn’t work, he said.

“When he slashed the officer’s arm, the officer felt his life was in jeopardy and he had nothing else to do, but to defend himself,” Gilmore said.

Stephon’s family said police have used a stun gun on him in the past.

“They didn’t have to murder him. This is nothing but murder and they shoot to kill,” Powell-Watts said. “He had a butter knife and … my husband said that he lunged at the police officer.”
Stephon’s uncle said police had subdued his nephew with stun guns before.

“They didn’t have to shoot him. They could have tasered the child. He’s only 15 years old,” Wayne Watts said. “They could have tased him, like they did him before, took him to the hospital and he would have been fine and that’s what I want to know. Why couldn’t they do that to him so that he could still be breathing with us right now?”

Gilmore said a stun gun wasn’t used because the lead officer did not have a stun gun.

Five officers responded to the Watts home after Stephon’s father called police, according to Gilmore. Two entered the house, heading to the basement where they found Stephon. One of those two officers did have a stun gun with him.

“Unfortunately today, when he slashed the officer’s arm, the officer felt his life was in jeopardy and he had nothing else to do, but defend himself,” Gilmore said.

I understand why the family is upset and they can’t really look at this in any objective way. Leave that to the Monday morning quarterbacks.

Dr. Louis Kraus, professor and section chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center, questioned whether deadly force was really necessary.

“With everything that they’ve done before, they should have known before going in what they were dealing with. And, you know, the goal really should have been to have gotten this child to a hospital,” Kraus told CBS 2′s Dana Kozlov.

He said people with autism can frequently become aggressive, but not because they are trying to hurt someone.

“What we know is that, when they get anxious – probably more commonly than they typical person when they get anxious – they might lash out; not with the intention of doing harm, but simply because of how frightened they are,” Kraus said.

I remember a few years ago dealing with a mentally challenged person in front of a car dealership. He was swinging at me with a crutch and half a can of mace did not stop him. Oh doc, this was BT (before Taser). Long story short three of us had to use batons to get him subdued. The manager of the dealership came out and said “I’m your witness, he started it all... “ Then he mentioned “Three of my guys thought you were kinda hard on him...”

My answer was simple, “Have those three gentlemen come out here, we’ll each loan them a baton and mace and take the cuffs off...they can show us how it’s done.” For some reason they didn’t want to come out and play.

Calumet City Ald. Brian Wilson had questions about the shooting as well.

“I think less deadly means could have been used,” Wilson said.

The alderman is staging a protest at 7 p.m. outside the Calumet City police station.

A local Jessee Jackson...despicable. The family is grieving and you’re trying to make hay out of it.

I have little tolerance for morons who question the actions of an officer put into a crisis and told to bring instant order to something that took years to deteriorate. I feel sorry for the family’s loss but from this report you have not been raising your son and been expecting police to control him for you. Forgive my bluntness but we’re not here to raise you children even if they have special needs. And while I regret you loss, I’m glad another family did not suffer a loss. The officer’s.

God Bless Occupy D.C.!

The House Minority Leader (great title for the women, although former congresswoman would be better, if not federal prisoner) recently commented "God bless them" when asked about the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

I guess she really like this.



Police raid Occupy D.C. camp - Washington Times

Police in riot gear and cleanup crews in hazardous materials suits began enforcing no-camping laws in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza over the weekend, resulting in intense — and often physical — confrontations with Occupy D.C. protesters who resisted their efforts.

At least 12 people were arrested during the weekend enforcement actions, and the majority of tents that made up the McPherson Square camp were removed along with truckloads of trash. One police officer was injured Saturday when he was struck in the face with a brick.

...Police said Sunday they had found human feces, urine in plastic bottles, used condoms and rats — alive and dead. Some of the equipment was tagged and bagged and for protesters to claim beginning Monday morning at U.S. Park Police headquarters.

Sounds like the future of America...

In a scene that was repeated several times Saturday, police at McPherson Square shoved confrontational protesters out of areas of the park they planned to clear, while demonstrators chanted and hurled obscenities at officers.
...Occupy protester Thi Lee was caught in the push. She said she was jabbed a few times as police came through the area.

“They just started coming in and shoving people around,” she said. “I just got caught up on it. I was like, ‘I can´t believe they’re doing this.’ “

Park Police spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser said the enforcement was a way for police to address “nuisance abatement” and “not an eviction.”...

...“This is just another American foreclosure,” protester Brian Eister said....

Yo Brian, how many thousands of dollars did your parents pay for your education. You must be a student because what you said is so dumb. You don't own that park, it's not your house. And a foreclosure happens when someone fails to pay their mortgage. You have not supported it with tax dollars because I really doubt you work. So, shut the f$%^ up and go back to mommy. Otherwise McDonalds is hiring. They will give you a better education than Columbia.

Another year, another Superbowl

Last year was Elmer's first Superbowl and he really enjoyed himself.

So he has even more fun this year with the family and you can tell!

Great game, congrats to the Giants and Eli Manning. Archie and Peyton, I know you're all proud as hell of the man. But Saints next year in the Superbowl in New Orleans!

Where are the Racial Profiling Nazi's on this...

Hey, good enough for law enforcement, it's good enough for law breakers right?

Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling

LOS ANGELES — (MCT) In the calculus of cross-border human smuggling, Maria Lopez-Diaz allegedly concluded that black instead of brown equals green.

The 60-year-old Compton, Calif., woman, prosecutors say, tried to cash in on racial profiling by operating a human smuggling ring that hired mostly African-American drivers who didn't speak a word of Spanish to ferry small groups of immigrants from Mexico to Los Angeles.

In the end, the venture failed. Authorities announced charges Thursday against Lopez-Diaz and four others, including conspiracy and transporting and harboring illegal immigrants. Lopez-Diaz, two family members and a driver were arrested by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol...

..."It's absolutely true that most of the people involved in transporting human smuggling networks are Hispanics, by virtue of the fact that most customers are Hispanics," said ICE Special Agent in Charge Claude Arnold. "This organization thought, 'What if we recruited those who attract less attention from law enforcement?' Obviously they were wrong."

The group, allegedly headed by Lopez-Diaz and two family members, recruited drivers who were down on their luck — jobless, homeless or drug-addicted — who were lured by the few hundred dollars' payoff and kept in the dark about the extent of the enterprise, prosecutors said. Had they been able to communicate with their passengers, they would have learned the ringleaders charged the immigrants up to $4,000 a person for the ride north, authorities said.

"There were two layers of exploitation here, one of the aliens in the trunks coming up to Los Angeles, and then of the drivers they used," said U.S. Assistant Attorney Rupa Goswami, the federal prosecutor in the case.

The investigation began when Border Patrol officials noticed an unusual pattern in early 2010. They found African-Americans, mostly from Compton, carrying up to six immigrants in the trunks and hidden compartments of their cars. Their vehicles were elaborately modified, including compartments under the hood or under the back seats, as well as special shock absorbers to conceal the heavy load.

The group is estimated to have smuggled several dozen immigrants a month into Los Angeles, immigration authorities said.

Juan Eduardo Baltazar, 35, Lopez-Diaz's son-in-law, was allegedly responsible for preparing the vehicles and installing the compartments. Her daughter-in-law, 23-year-old Karen Esteban-Morales, is accused of coordinating the pickup of the immigrants. Lopez-Diaz and her two family members are themselves in the U.S. illegally, according to authorities, and face deportation if they are convicted....

And to answer my own first question, there is no money in it so the race industry will not go after it. The market hasn't developed yet for them to sue illegal smugglers and Jessee Jackson et all is not really concerned about black unemployment.

Go ahead...Make My Day Better!

From this morning's paper.

Make My Day law for business advances in Colorado

DENVER (AP) — Colorado takes pride in its Western entrepreneurial spirit — and that extends to the belief of some lawmakers that business owners should be able to use deadly force against anyone who tries to take what's theirs.

It's an idea that conjures Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry, and its supporters have taken liberties with the hardboiled character's famous line in naming their measure "Make My Day Better."

The state already has a law that allows people in homes to gun down invaders, and the bill's sponsor, Republican state Rep. Chris Holbert, is asking lawmakers to weigh: "Are you worth somehow less in the workplace than you are in your residence?"

Opponents, including some in law enforcement, consider the plan an overreach.

"This bill gives business owners a license to kill when nothing is threatened other than property," Democratic state Rep. Claire Levy said.

Most states have some variation of a self-defense law. In legislatures from Alaska to Oklahoma, lawmakers are considering adopting or extending such protections...

...Republicans found motivation for the proposal about five years ago after a Denver nightclub owner shot an intruder and was charged with attempted murder, and have unsuccessfully introduced a version of the measure in several sessions.

Holbert said the bill's opponents raised concerns when the state passed a "Make My Day" law back in the '80s.

"The opponents to that law were quite sure that we would have an increase in people just being shot on doorsteps, and that hasn't been the case," he said.

Holbert said, "This isn't a blanket coverage to do bad things."

I remember when states we passing concealed carry laws the usual suspects were screaming about how we would have blooding the streets, etc. I see how well that worked out. Now in places where handguns are basically banned (Chicago, New York, Washington DC) it's safe as hell right?

I got a suggestion for people who are concerned about this. You don't want to be shot by a business owner, don't break into his business. Simple and it works.

Art and politics

I would only ask who in this group does't belong.  Hint, it's not the guy sitting on the bench.

Controversial Artist Depicts Obama Trampling The Constitution « CBS Las Vegas

Provo, Utah (CBS Las Vegas) - In front of the White House a man is sitting on a park bench in the throes of depression. He is surrounded by all 43 presidents. In the forefront, purposefully ignoring the depressed man is President Obama, whose right foot is stepping on the Constitution. James Madison is next to Obama, pleading with him to stop.

This tableau is called “The Forgotten Man”, a painting by Jon McNaughton, an artist who is known for his politically-charged work.

The painting, which uses objects such as discarded dollar bills as symbols and scraps of paper with individual constitutional amendments scrawled onto them, has been making the rounds across the Internet...

...The responses have ranged from sarcastic — “We’ll trade you this peasant for that constitution. We’ll even throw in the bench.” – to Photoshop works of art....

You can read the full article and I support this man for many reasons, first of all freedom of expression. But I do wonder were are the other "defenders of the Constitution", e.g. ACLU, PFTAW, etc on this. After all they seemed to defend the producers of Death of a President, showing the assignation of George W Bush during his term. Till this point motion pictures have never shown a sitting president murdered. Then again we all know it was projection of a lot of what Hollywood wanted.

But I have to agree with the artist more on his last point in the article.

He later added to CBSLV: “I’m not trying to create an art style. I want to communicate my ideas. Isn’t that the purpose of art?”

You would think so Mr. McNaughton. Then again, your ideas are not right with the Progressive movement and they don't want to allow it.

Officer Down

Police Officer Steven Green
Mobile Alabama Police Department
End of Watch: Friday, February 3, 2012
Age: 36
Tour: 1 year, 8 months

Police Officer Steven Green was stabbed to death by a prisoner outside of the Mobile County Metro Jail at approximately 3:50 pm.

The subject had been arrested by an off duty police officer earlier in the day when he attempted to rob a dollar store. He had approached the store's checkout counter, demanded money, then lit the counter on fire after spraying it with lighter fluid. An off duty officer shopping in the store tackled him and took him into custody.

He was processed at the police station and was being transported to the county jail by Officer Green when he attacked and fatally stabbed Officer Green outside of the jail complex. The subject then stole the officer's service weapon and patrol car. Other officers pursued the suspect to a home off of Dauphin Island Parkway where he engaged them in a shootout, wounding one officer in the arm. The suspect suffered a fatal gunshot wound during the exchange of shots.

Officer Green had served with the Mobile Police Department for 20 months. He is survived by his wife and children.

Rest in Peace Bro…We’ll Continue The Watch

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh.

Now I'm going to have this song in my head all day...

But it's still as cool as hell!



Great way to start a weekend!

Security Weekly: Mali Besieged by Fighters Fleeing Libya, February 2, 2012

By Scott Stewart

Mali has experienced perhaps the most significant external repercussions from the downfall of the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Stratfor has discussed the impact of the conflict in Libya on the wider region since international intervention began in March 2011. Instability in Libya due to that country's deep internal fault lines meant that re-establishing a government would prove difficult. As we pointed out, that instability could spread to neighboring countries as weapons and combatants flow outward from Libya.

Reports now indicate that thousands of armed Tuareg tribesmen who previously served in Gadhafi's military have returned home to Mali. The influx of this large number of well-armed and well-trained fighters, led by a former Libyan army colonel, has re-energized the long-simmering Tuareg insurgency against the Malian government. These Tuareg insurgents have formed a new group, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). In mid-January, they began a military campaign to free three northern regions of Mali from Bamako's control.

The government of Mali has claimed that the MNLA is aligned with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). MNLA, however, has strongly denied any link to the group and said it will serve as a bulwark against AQIM. Given the U.S. and European interest in preventing the strengthening of AQIM, both sides have considerable incentive to take their respective positions. These developments make it an opportune time to examine the MNLA, its current offensive and the potential implications for Mali and the region.

The Tuaregs and the Origins of the MNLA

The Tuaregs are a semi-nomadic people who inhabit the interior of Africa's Sahara region, including parts of Mali, Algeria, Niger and Libya. (Click here for background information on the Tuaregs.) Tuareg militancy extends to pre-colonial times; the current conflict is merely the latest manifestation of a longstanding struggle between the Tuaregs and their ruler of the moment. In modern times, Tuareg insurgencies seem to occur almost every decade. They have fought the governments of Mali, Niger and Algeria since those countries' independence from France. Major Tuareg rebellions occurred in Mali from 2007 to 2009 and from 1990 to 1995.

During these rebellions, Tuareg militants typically exploit their mountain bases in Mali's northeast to launch hit-and-run guerrilla attacks against military targets across Mali's vast northern region, leaving the Malian armed forces spread thin.

The Tuaregs are a tribal people. Some Tuareg tribes in Mali -- such as the Oulemedens, Ichnidharans and Imgads -- tend to be more closely aligned than tribes such as the Idnans, Ifoghas and Chamanesse, which tend to be involved with armed opposition to the government.

Traditionally, the Tuaregs controlled caravan routes across the Sahara. In days past, those caravans carried gold, spices, salt or dates. Today, contraband including weapons, untaxed tobacco and even narcotics traverse the desert routes. Banditry remains common in the region.

The MNLA emerged against this backdrop on Oct. 16, 2011, four days before the killing of Moammar Gadhafi. Its leader is former Libyan army Col. Ag Mohamed Najem, who hails from the Ifogha tribe, at present the most radical tribe of the Tuareg opposition in Mali.

MNLA's website notes that the group is composed of remnants of former Tuareg opposition movements such as the United Fronts of Azawad, which led the 1990s uprising, and the Tuareg Movement in Northern Mali led by Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, who spearheaded the 2007-2009 rebellion. A cousin of MNLA leader Ag Mohamed Najem, Ag Bahanga died Aug. 26, 2011, in what some reports call a car accident. Other reports indicate he may have been killed in a strike by a U.S.-trained Malian counterterrorism unit. At the time of his death, he was trying to return to Mali from Libya, where he had fled in 2009 after a failed offensive into southern Mali.

Najem reportedly rose quickly among Gadhafi's ranks to become colonel of a unit of the Libyan army stationed in Sabha, in central Libya, making him quite familiar with the tactics of desert warfare. He reportedly deserted the Libyan army in July 2011 and, according to media reports, now holds at least two camps in Tigherghar and Zakak in the Tin-Assalak hills of northeast Mali, an area where Ag Bahanga established bases in 2007.

Najem is not the only MNLA leader with significant military experience. Experienced defectors from the Malian army including Lt. Col. Ag Mbarek Aky and Col. Ag Bamoussa reportedly have bolstered the organization. The presence of experienced military leaders gives the MNLA an increased ability to organize and mobilize its units across a broad swath of territory in northern Mali.

According to the group's website, their long-term demands include the liberation of the Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal regions in northern Mali. Previous Tuareg opposition movements have demanded reforms including decentralization and regional military integration. Notably, the MNLA does not seek control of all of Mali, just the northern regions.

The MNLA's website also goes to great lengths to distance the MNLA from the Gadhafi regime, but its claims that its Tuareg fighters fought alongside the Libyan rebels against Gadhafi are highly dubious. Indeed, many of Gadhafi's Tuareg troops supported the regime until his death and the capture of his son Seif al-Islam. But no matter which side they fought on in Libya, the arrival of a large contingent of heavily armed Tuareg fighters (reportedly numbering between 2,000 and 4,000) poses a significant challenge to the government of Mali.

Current MNLA Offensive

On Jan. 16-17, MNLA militants attacked a military barracks and a national guard base in Menaka, Gao region. A government helicopter forced the attackers to retreat. The Malian Defense Ministry stated that one soldier and several assailants were killed, but the actual number of casualties is thought to be higher. According to media reports, Tuareg rebels led by Malian army defector Ag Assalat Habbi may still be in the Menaka area.

On the morning of Jan. 17, the MNLA continued attacks against the northeastern cities of Aguelhoc and Tessalit in Kidal region. Witnesses reported that approximately 20 vehicles drove through the town of Aguelhoc to the military barracks before firing on the army with small arms and heavy weapons. Throughout the clashes there were contradicting claims over who controlled the cities, but by Jan. 20 the Malian government released a statement indicating that the three towns of Menaka, Aguelhoc and Tessalit had been reclaimed, indicating the rebels had held them for at least a short period. As Mali is very large and has poor roads and limited air assets, it can take the Malian military quite some time to reinforce units overland from southern Mali.

The rebels reportedly returned with reinforcements to Aguelhoc and, after cutting off supply convoys for nearly two days, launched an assault on the city early Jan. 24. According to one media account, the army had to abandon Aguelhoc after troops ran out of ammunition; another report says they staged a tactical retreat to reinforce the larger city of Kidal nearby. Following the retreat, the Malian government conducted airstrikes on Aguelhoc using fixed-wing Malian aircraft (likely MiG-21s), reportedly destroying some 40 rebel vehicles and killing dozens of fighters. The MNLA posted a photo on its Facebook page it claims shows a MiG-21 that MNLA forces shot down, but the photo is actually of a destroyed truck. On Jan. 25, government troops recaptured Aguelhoc. Subsequent reports suggest control of Aguelhoc has passed back and forth more than once since then.

The MNLA continued its series of armed assaults Jan. 26 on the towns of Anderamboukane in Gao region and Lere in Timbuktu region. While reports from Anderamboukane, near Menaka, have conflicted -- as have almost all reports regarding the fighting in the region -- it appears that the rebel assaults were similar to those launched against other towns and that the military used helicopters to disperse the attackers.

Lere, a small town, is approximately 320 kilometers (about 200 miles) west of the towns previously targeted. Local residents reported that MNLA fighters arrived in a dozen cars after a military unit had left the town so the militants faced no resistance. According to Reuters, military reinforcements were deployed in the direction of Lere on Jan. 28, but the present status of the town is unclear. Although tactically simple, this assault displays the geographic reach of the rebel movement and its intent to make government forces deploy across Mali's expansive north.

Lere is just south of Lake Faguibine, an area frequented by AQIM convoys. In June 2010, a joint Malian-Mauritanian force chased AQIM fighters into the Lere area after it attacked AQIM camps located in Wagadou Forest, on the Mali-Mauritania border.

On Jan. 31, the MNLA also reportedly attacked Niafunke, in Timbuktu region, in the far west of northern Mali. We have also seen an unconfirmed report of a purported MNLA attack in Ntilit, Goa region.

MNLA and AQIM

Mali is poor and its troops are poorly trained and equipped. Historically, the government has not demonstrated the will to seriously tackle Tuareg militants -- or AQIM for that matter. As noted above, the influx of thousands of armed Tuareg fighters poses a significant threat to the Malian government's ability to control the north of the country. The number of Tuareg fighters now reportedly engaged in the insurgency is considerably larger than the number involved in the 2007-2009 uprising. And the MNLA is not the only threat Mali faces. Like other nations in the region, the presence of AQIM threatens Mali, and in recent years the United States, France and the European Union have all provided funding and training intended to assist the government of Mali in countering the AQIM threat. Matters become murky at this point.

The government of Mali has publicly claimed that the MNLA is associated with AQIM to draw even more support from the United States and the Europeans. In fact, if not for the AQIM threat, the Americans and Europeans would not be inclined to pay much attention to the happenings in Mali: The AQIM card is really the only one the Malian government has to play to induce Western involvement. Given the grave Tuareg threat they face, the Malians are attempting to hype the AQIM-Tuareg relationship.

Certainly, U.S. and European air assets could provide a dramatic boost to the efforts of the Malian military, not just in terms of strikes, but also in terms of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Such assets could provide an elevated sense of battlefield awareness that could permit the Malian government to deploy its limited resources in a decisive manner. It could also help them know when not to engage. Likewise, as seen in Libya, even small teams of Western special operations forces working to advise and coordinate close air support for local forces could provide a tremendous boost to their combat capability.

Because of these factors, it is in the Malian government's best interests to paint the MNLA as associated with AQIM -- and of the MNLA to deny such association. The MNLA vociferously has denied ties to AQIM and even claims that once it controls the northern part of Mali, it will serve as a buffer against AQIM. The truth probably lies somewhere in between these statements.

In the past, Tuareg opposition networks have had varying degrees of involvement with AQIM. For example, former rebel leader Ibrahim Ag Bahanga (the deceased cousin of MNLA leader Ag Mohamed Najem) is thought to have maintained close associations with AQIM for financial reasons. Arab smugglers are known to pay large fees for protection as they run drugs, fuel, arms, cigarettes and migrants across Tuareg territory. There are also reports that Tuareg tribesmen have kidnapped Westerners in the Sahel and that those Westerners somehow made their way into AQIM custody, perhaps after being traded or sold.

The nuances of the relationship between AQIM, the Tuareg insurgents and smuggling networks in the Sahel are complex but appear to be linked primarily to the economic needs of the Tuaregs. Ag Bahanga clearly appears to have been plugged into these smuggling networks and to have used them, along with the patronage of Gadhafi, to fund and support his rebel movement.

With the cessation of supply lines from Libya, the MNLA must have a stream of income, food and ammunition if it is to sustain itself for the long term. Despite the MNLA's claims that it would clean up smuggling in the north, it would not be difficult for the MNLA to look to traditional smuggling networks as its principal source of revenue in much the same way AQIM currently does. We are unsure of how closely the MNLA will work with AQIM. Logically, it would likely cooperate, or not cooperate, with AQIM as best suits its cause.

Outlook

As the MNLA continues its efforts to establish control over northern Mali, and the Malian government works to prevent that from occurring, we will be looking at a number of factors to help determine which way the struggle is going.

First, the Libyan weapons currently under MNLA's control give it an ability to support itself in the short term, but it will need to find alternative sources of supply if it is going to be able to sustain its offensive operations. One option would be to re-establish Libyan lines of supply through a new relationship with the black and gray arms market there.

This means we will also need to watch for more defections from the Malian government and army -- especially units deserting with their equipment.

Second, the MNLA will need to win the hearts and minds of the people if it is to succeed in its insurgency. We will need to watch for indications that other tribal groups are jumping on the MNLA bandwagon and for the reaction of local populations to MNLA activities. So far, local populations have fled the MNLA. They also have conducted demonstrations in some places, demanding that the government take action against the MNLA. Alternatively, the MNLA could seek to drive opponents out of the regions it seeks to control, so we also need to watch for indications that it is driving civilians who do not support it out of the areas in which it operates.

Western help could dramatically change the situation, especially in areas like intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance resources and strike aircraft. We need to watch carefully for the increased deployment of such systems or of special operations forces to Mali and their use against the MNLA and not just against AQIM.

Algeria is positioning itself to serve as a neutral mediator, as it has in past confrontations between the Malian government and the Tuaregs. Algiers has temporarily frozen its operations and training with the Malian military and withdrawn its advisers from the northern states to avoid being caught in the middle of the clashes. Algerian diplomats reportedly have reached out to Tuareg tribal leaders in Algeria's own southern desert to pressure their counterparts in Mali to return to talks. The Algerian government has refused to treat wounded MNLA fighters, instead insisting on maintaining its neutral stance in the conflict, meaning that it is unlikely that the MNLA will be able to turn to Algeria if Malian forces push it into a corner. Like Algeria, Niger and Libya have their own Tuareg populations and internal stability issues and thus are not likely to take risks for the MNLA. This could put the group in a very tight spot, so we need to carefully watch the Algerian mediation efforts.

Mali Besieged by Fighters Fleeing Libya Copyright STRATFOR.COM

Congress shall make no law...

Five of the most beautiful words written in the English language.

I've been out of it for the last few days and I found this article from Michelle Malkin interesting.

First, They Came for the Catholics

President Obama and his radical feminist enforcers have had it in for Catholic medical providers from the get-go. It's about time all people of faith fought back against this unprecedented encroachment on religious liberty. First, they came for the Catholics. Who's next?

This weekend, Catholic bishops informed parishioners of the recent White House edict forcing religious hospitals, schools, charities and other health and social service providers to provide "free" abortifacient pills, sterilizations and contraception on demand in their insurance plans -- even if it violates their moral consciences and the teachings of their churches.

NARAL, NOW, Ms. Magazine and the Feminist Majority Foundation all cheered the administration's abuse of the Obamacare law to ram abortion down pro-life medical professionals' throats. Femme dinosaur Eleanor Smeal gloated over the news that the administration had rejected church officials' pleas for compromises: "At last," she exulted, the left's goal of "no-cost birth control" for all had been achieved.

As always, tolerance is a one-way street in the Age of Obama. "Choice" is in the eye (and iron fist) of the First Amendment usurper.

Like the rising number of states who have revolted against the individual health care mandate at the ballot box and in the courts, targeted Catholics have risen up against the Obamacare regime. Arlington (Va.) Bishop Paul Loverde didn't mince words, calling the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services order "a direct attack against religious liberty. This ill-considered policy comprises a truly radical break with the liberties that have underpinned our nation since its founding." Several bishops vowed publicly to fight the mandate.

Bishop Alexander Sample of Marquette, Mich., asserted plainly: "We cannot -- we will not -- comply with this unjust law."

...Hannah Smith, senior counsel at the nonprofit law firm The Becket Fund, which is representing the schools, boiled it down for Bloomberg News: "This is not really about access to contraception. The mandate is about forcing these religious groups to pay for it against their beliefs."...

Again I go back to the title of this post. Someone with a decent education should know it's the beginning of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I think it's in any simple reading of the document that the Congress (and therefore the bureaucracy or the President) cannot order a church institution to do something against their belief.

I would not hold my breath for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State to come to the aide of the church in this matter. You know, that wall of separation between church and state only goes one way, right? Or the ACLU...yea, right.

Hopefully the church finds a judge to slap the Secretary of HHS with an injunction. She cannot order a church to preform a procedure that they find repugnant. Hell, ordering any hospital or doctor to give away their property without due process of law may seem a bit quaint but again I pray a judge stops this crap.